This article is from page 120 of the 2009-02-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 120 JPG
IT’S only the second week of the sea- son but Ballyea are already making waves in their first ever minor league campaign. Last week, they surprised Newmarket to prevail by three points and on Saturday, they took another scalp in the form of St Joseph’s Doo- ra/Barefield.
Now it’s early days and most sides are still adjusting to the new season but the most impressive part of this Ballyea side so far is that they are a very young side. Half of their start- ing line-up on Saturday are still un- derage for Under 16 this year, having built up a winning mentality from their Feile na nGael excursion two years ago.
In contrast, St Joseph’s, off the back of a battling two point victory over Eire Og, were a totally different side and never got to grips with their livlier opponents over the hour. Bal- lyea were sharp and incisive while St Joseph’s, depsite having the physi- cal advantage, were unable to find space and appeared quite toothless Vom BKeysle
Even a lack of nets or lines couldn’t knock the home side off their stride and in fact, neither goalkeeper had to make a save, which made umpiring duties all the easier. Instead, Ballyea were content to pick off their points, with Tony Kelly’s unerring free-tak- ing punishing St Joseph’s repeated indiscipline. Wing-forward Kelly converted fourteen points, thirteen of those from frees and his reliability from placed balls was a real source of confidence for his side over the telene
St Joseph’s started with the aid of a significant breeze and in fact were Q-2 to 0-1 ahead after seven minutes with a great Niall Deloughery score on the run from halfway and a Shane O’Connor free cancelling out Kelly’s
opening free. However, it was to be Doora/Barefield’s last score for 44 minutes as Ballyea finally settled. Instead, the home side hit six suc- cessive first-half points, four from the stick of Kelly to lead by O-7 to Q-2 at the break and it could have
been much worse only for some good defending from Kieran Clune and Conor Lyons.
Ballyea were equally miserly in de- fence though and as Doora/Barefield totted up six first half wides, Ballyea had impressive displays from Paul
Flanagan, Jack Browne, Gearoid O’Connell, Martin O’Leary and Kel- ly. The second half continued in the same fashion with Kelly converting four more frees along with one from play through Martin O’Leary before St Joseph’s would score again.
The change came with Kieran Clune’s switch to the forward line but some last gasp defending from Cathal Doohan and Declan Keane ensured that Doora/Barefield could not pierce their defence. Leo Duggan did finally put over for the away side in the 51st but by then, the game was clearly beyond them and four more Kelly frees and some quick think- ing from Gearoid O’Connell to set up midfield partner Stan Lineen for the final score rounded off a hugely impressive afternoon for Ballyea.
With one foot already in the semi- finals, a win against Eire Og this week will guarantee their place at the penultimate stage. Considering that they were unsure of whether even to enter the tournament at the start of the year, it has certainly been a beneficial first foray into a Minor A competition.